The instant invention relates to an anesthesia system and more particularly to a safety interface and valve for anesthesia gas scavenging.
Since 1929 evidence has been accumulating in the international medical literature indicating that the chronic exposure to waste anesthetic gases in subanesthetizing concentrations is harmful to operating room personnel. The evidence indicates that female operating room personnel are subject to a significantly higher incidence of spontaneous abortions, involuntary infertility, congenital defects in children born subsequent to operating room employment and malignant tumors of the lymphoid and reticuloendothelial system, and both sexes are subject to a higher incidence of liver disease. The international and American research is well summarized in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) document entitled "Criteria for a Recommended Standard Occupational Exposure to Waste Anesthetic Gases and Vapors,"HEW (NIOSH) Publication #77-140, March, 1977. Additional research work continues at this time. Recognizing this hazard, the federal Food and Drug Administration has required that all proposed volatile anesthetic agents before introduction into the market place be tested for possible carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health continues to fund additional studies relating to operating room hazards and their control. The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is now reviewing the NIOSH Criteria Document and will consider requiring safety devices to be placed in operating rooms to protect all personnel potentially exposed. The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals already mandates waste anesthesia gas scavening as a criterion for approval of a hospital Anesthesia Service.
Accordingly, the instant invention is designed to interface between the disposal point and the gas scavenging devices attached to the anesthesia patient circuit or anesthesia ventilator. By providing built-in positive and negative pressure relief valves, the instant invention helps protect both patient and operating room personnel from hazards of defective or inoperative gas scavenging systems and inadequate gas scavenging.